Author Description

This first monograph on Italian artist Emilio Prini and his radical approach to art. This is the first monograph dedicated to of one of Italy’s most enigmatic and complex artistic figures, Emilio Prini (1943–2016), a key figure of Arte Povera whose work has never been fully surveyed. Structured chronologically from 1966 to 2016, it examines his work via a systematic iconographic and bibliographic analysis of Prini’s archives along with the institutions he exhibited at. As he considered the medium secondary to the concept, no distinction is made between installations, sculptures, invitations, posters, or documents; and by presenting the works first individually and then situated in different contexts, the book provides a unique insight into his particular methodology. Prini also consistently rejected the notion of the artwork as a closed and defined object, interrogating the very framework of the exhibition format. In our current context, marked by the overproduction and overconsumption of images and objects, the ongoing relevance of Prini’s independent, elusive, and uncompromising approach lies in his questioning the necessity of production itself. The volume includes a text by curator Luca Lo Pinto and scholarly contributions from Alexander Alberro, Stefano Chiodi, Catherine David, Hans Ulrich Obrist, and Andrea Viliani, alongside artist interventions by five international artists: Trisha Donnelly, Lara Favaretto, John Knight, Anri Sala, and Studio for Propositional Cinema. It has been designed by Experimental Jetset, one of the most influential graphic design studios working today. Copublished by MACRO–Museum of Contemporary Art of Rome